SATURDAY MORNING PHYSICSSolar Powering Your House or Saving the World One Electron at a Time

The major push in the United States and other countries around the world for the development of low cost solar energy to electrical energy conversion is based on the assumption that solar is the most abundant form of energy on Earth, and it represents our best hope for replacing fossil fuel energy sources in the near term. However, is this assumption realistic? Professor Forrest will discuss the challenge ahead in making solar energy a major source of electrical energy, and then will discuss how to achieve that goal through tailoring nanoscale materials to make potentially very low cost solar cells. Finally, he will discuss a practical implementation of solar power generation: his off-grid house in Vermont uses solar as one of its main sources of energy. How Professor Forrest managed to make a solar powered system and its benefits and faults will be described.